A Swordsman and a Klutz
by WritesWithQuills
Summary: Sumia was as unremarkable as Lon'qu was extraordinary, so why did Robin feel the need to keep pairing them off together?
1. Elderflowers

_Disclaimer: I still don't own Fire Emblem; I'm still wishing otherwise. _

_There were several pairings from Awakening that I wish could have been, and this is one of them, so I wrote my own set of C-S supports with a romantic element running from the start. There will be spoilers up to Chapter 11, but not after that-so no Cynthia, I'm afraid, though I might write a separate story for her at a later date._

* * *

A Swordsman and a Klutz

1\. Elderflowers

In almost every respect, Sumia was an unremarkable woman. Barely skilled for combat and capable of tripping over air, it was no wonder that Robin often kept her to the back lines. However, as the war continued and Sumia grew stronger, Robin soon began using her in his strategies in a different way. Being a pegasus knight, she was able to travel long distances in moments without tiring and Robin found a suitably useful in bringing stronger soldiers to the front lines. Though, why he felt the need to partner her with Lon'qu in most of these instances was beyond her.

In much the same way that Sumia was an unremarkable woman; Lon'qu was an extraordinary man. Skilled in close combat and capable of multitasking in a way that most men weren't, it was no wonder that Robin felt the need to have him as close to the action as possible. But why, in the name of Naga, did he think it would be a good idea to pair him with a klutzy woman? Frederick had a similar range and was a strong male, surely it would have made more sense to partner Lon'qu with him. If it was simply that Robin was trying to break his fear of women, then surely partnering him with Maribelle as he had been before would have worked better-Robin had forced Lon'qu on Maribelle in many battles and, as a result, the swordsman had become accustomed to her and she had begun moulding him into a perfect gentleman, starting with cracking his gynophobia.

A few battles ago, Robin had started pairing Maribelle with Chrom and Lon'qu with Sumia instead-before, it had always been the other way around. As Sumia watched from her place in the back lines, she began to realise why the change had been enacted: fighting side by side was a strangely effective way for people to form relationships.

Robin often organised the battle so that healers would stay in the back lines with Sumia and the others, but after a while, he started pairing off Lissa and Frederick together so that a healer would always be where the action was. Several battles ago-the battle before Robin had started to reorganise his groupings-Frederick had almost lost his life in combat, it was only Lissa's quick staff-work that let him live long enough to get proper medical attention.

As soon as his wounds were healed, Frederick and Lissa were promptly married, and, for some odd reason, that made Robin livid.

After that incident, all groupings had been rearranged to avoid such an act occurring again. It was almost as if Robin was now organising the battles like a matchmaker, setting up couples he would be happy to see married off together.

Which was why Sumia had been so confused about her own new pairing. For as long as she could remember, Robin had been weirdly into Chrom and hers' dynamic, trying to set them up together even off the battlefield. _Why the sudden change of heart?_ She thought to herself as she watched.

Then she saw the way that Lon'qu looked at Maribelle from across the field and realised that the change hadn't been made for her. It was a look so unguarded that she blushed; so focussed on the healer that Sumia didn't dare turn away, afraid that he'd be so engrossed in Maribelle that he wouldn't notice the enemy sneaking up on him. Robin was either trying to protect the swordsman from getting hurt again or he really wasn't a fan of Lon'qu and Maribelle together.

Either way, Lon'qu still hadn't noticed the archer sneaking up on him.

Despite knowing that her pegasus was susceptible to great damage from arrows, Sumia jumped on and pulled the reigns, plunging head-first into the carnage, lance in hand. She called his name as the archer readied an arrow; called again after he obviously hadn't heard the first time, pulling her mount to a stop as the arrow went flying... Right into her shoulder, narrowly missing his face which was now turned in her direction. The archer glared at the woman who had stopped what could have been a brilliant kill and readied another arrow, aiming for her mount. The arrow never flew but fell with a clatter as the archer was pierced through with Sumia's lance, the risen soldier turning to a pile of dust and gas as he, too, fell.

Watching to make sure it was truly dead, Sumia pulled the arrow out gently, trying to do as little damage as possible and wincing as she realised it had gone a lot deeper than she hoped. She grabbed a vulnery from her pouch to numb most of the pain and turned to find that the swordsman was no longer stood behind her. With a sigh, she pulled her mount back into the air and flew back to the healers, hoping that they could stop the bleeding and be able to cure her when they got back to camp.

She didn't even bother looking for Lon'qu in the carnage as she flew back. It's not like he was going to thank her for saving his life.

* * *

The weekend arrived before Sumia saw Lon'qu again. Her wound hadn't been as serious as it looked on the field and after a thorough cleaning and the admission of several salves, it was almost healed. There was only a loose bandage around the wound now to stop it from catching on her clothing, or getting an debris in it when she inevitably fell every now and then.

And falling back from the battle had lead to the knight finding a large patch of wild elderflowers for her to use in her cooking.

Humming as she worked, Sumia started making a batch of elderflower champagne using the method her mother used, sure that it would lighten the groups' spirits when it was ready for consumption. It was all going so splendidly until she remembered that it was a certain myrmidon's turn to cook that evening. He sighed as he walked in and saw her standing over her bowl stirring the liquid as it simmered; she studiously ignored him as he set to work on the groups' supper. The silence seemed comfortable to her as they worked on their separate dishes so she was unsure why Lon'qu felt the need to talk to her.

"Sumia." Said he shortly as a way to grab her attention.

"Yes?" She replied in return, not looking up from her pot.

"...What is that smell?"

"Oh, it's the elderflowers," she waved a bunch of the little white flowers behind her, still refusing to look in his direction. "Don't worry, it won't smell like this when it's done."

"And... _'it'_ is...?" He inquired after a pause, turning back to his potato peeling.

"Elderflower champagne. It'll take a week or so to ferment properly, but it tastes pretty good when it's done."

"...I've had it before."

"Oh!" Sumia jumped at that, shocked. "I didn't realise it was a common beverage in Regna Ferox..."

"No. It's not." Snapped he shortly, cutting the vegetables. "It's common in Chon'sin."

"Well, that makes sense, I imagine that Chon'sin has the perfect climate for elderflowers... Wait. Weren't you only a child when you left?!" Sumia turned on her heel to stare at him, spoon in hand.

"What of it?" He, too, turned to face her, leaving his knife on the tabletop.

"...Nothing." She turned back to her simmering flower-water mix. They fell into silence once more, the only sound coming from their cooking.

"How's your wound?" Lon'qu asked once he finished preparing everything.

"Oh," she reached up to touch the tender spot on her shoulder. "A lot shallower than I thought. It's healed well."

"Good." Said he shortly. "...T-Thank you for taking a hit for me. It wasn't necessary."

 _Was that really so hard?_ Sumia thought but said: "I'm sorry that Robin isn't pairing you with Maribelle any more."

"What?!" In his exclamation, Lon'qu dropped his knife which barely missed his foot as it fell. He glared at the mousy-haired woman, picking up and holding his knife viciously. "W-Why...?!"

"Uhm..." She backed away slightly from his knife, afraid of what he might do with it if she stopped watching him. "It's just... You seemed to like her... I'm sorry for you, that's all." With a sigh, she picked up her pot carefully, moving slowly to make sure she didn't trip, knowing it was an almost certainty. "I'll get out of you're hair now. Sorry to have brought it up."

Lon'qu watched her leave, feeling almost sorry for having snapped at her. Just when he was about to go after her and check to see if she was alright, he remembered that she had spent the last moments of the battle collecting those damned flowers instead of coming back to fight. Quickly turning his back on the tent doors, he willed her not to come back and make him say the thought he knew he'd regret:

 _You went and collected those flowers instead of coming back to see if I had survived._


	2. Loss

_Thanks to everyone who has viewed this so far, and an even bigger thanks to anyone who has favourited, followed or reviewed, it's always nice to know that there are people out there who enjoy reading something you write, particularly when it's for such an uncommon pairing._

 _I just wanted to state that the layout has shifted slightly from the standard, regimented four support structure that I had suggested it would be and is now a little looser and more of a story than a set of supports, though I've tried to set it up so that each chapter hits each support grade._

 _Also, spoilers for Chapters 9 and 10 follow. I'm only warning because these chapters contain a major death and I have had far too many fictional characters' deaths ruined for me in the past and would like not to ruin one for anyone else. You have been forewarned._

 _As always, support in the form of favs, follows, and reviews will be much appreciated. Enjoy!_

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A Swordsman and a Klutz

2\. Loss

Even from the very back lines where Sumia hovered, Emmeryn could be seen falling from her place atop the skull.

Spurring her mount in a way that she vowed never to do, Sumia flew in as fast as it could carry her, desperate to try and catch the falling woman-not to save the day, but to save everyone from the grief that would follow. As always, she arrived a second too late.

Lissa's shriek echoed around the desert as Sumia hovered in her place but a few feet short of where the Exalt had landed, a hand at her mouth in shock and awe of the sacrifice. A hushed silence fell over everyone-enemy and ally-for a few seconds as the shriek echoed off. They all stood in a stunned state, unified finally in the worst of ways. Then Chrom started swearing revenge and Basillio started shouting at everyone to move to his escape route; Robin started ordering the movement with the Khan and Gangrel laughed.

That sound-a noise worse than Lissa's grief-stricken shriek-filled all of their minds as they fled, covering the desert like some sick and twisted requiem.

* * *

The fight that followed was hard for both the Shepards and the Plegians ordered to fight against them. Not only was everyone unwilling to fight after the horrid sacrifice they had witnessed, but the terrain was harsh and the rain made everything hazy and slippery, meaning many of Robin's normal strategies couldn't be employed. In the end he called everyone in for the fight, telling them to take up arms and kill any and all who stood in the way of their escape from this sick land.

Sumia took that very literally, taking several javelins and flying up to the top of one of the ridges, throwing them at enemies with an accuracy that she never knew existed within her. On the centre ridge, Cordelia had flown Virion up to do the same with his arrows while she had taken point on the far one with the javelins that her sisters-at-arms had left behind, shouting their names as she threw them, telling each skewered enemy that that was for Emmeryn from one of her fallen knights.

Lon'qu-much to the brunette's surprise-kept to the back line, his sword still sheathed and his hands shaking as they covered his face. She had half expected him to be wading ankle deep in enemy blood by now, fighting like Frederick was to clear a path and avenge the great lady who had fallen victim to a war she had never wanted. But the myrmidon stood alone, only moving when his life was in danger, sword barely leaving it's sheath.

As soon as the path was cleared and the general had fallen, Robin ordered a mass sprint as the group made for shelter. Pulling her exhausted mount into the air, Sumia looked back quickly to notice that Lon'qu hadn't moved from his spot, shaking slightly as the rain drizzled on. With a quick glance in the direction of the escape route, she turned back to grab the swordsman, knowing that it would be her fault if he got left behind.

He simply looked up at her, atop her grounded pegasus, as she called his name, offering her hand. To both their surprise, he took it, with obvious effort (blushing and sweating with teeth gritted as though to keep himself from growling as he touched a woman) and let her pull him onto her mount.

Forcing the poor thing back into the air again, the pair set off after the others, with Sumia marvelling at the fact that Lon'qu was actually holding onto her as they flew as fast as the tired creature would carry them, away from all the horrors they had seen in this foreign land.

* * *

After finding a secure and safe location to set up camp, the Shepards gathered to reassure Chrom that they would continue to fight and potentially lay down their lives for his cause, that Lady Emmeryn's sacrifice hadn't been in vain. But they did little to ease each others' grief over her loss. It was almost as if Chrom was in an intense state of shock and could think of nothing more than getting revenge for her loss; and the Shepards didn't want to morn her loss if her own younger brother wasn't.

Although, it seemed like Lissa was doing the crying for all of them, waking Sumia up in the middle of the night with her intense shrieks from a few tents over. With a sigh, the brunette lifted herself up to a sitting position and listened to the healer as she cried, accompanied now and then by the comforting tones of Frederick as he tried to calm her down. After listening to the sound of the cries rise, shudder off and then rise back up for a few moments, Sumia forced herself out of bed, knowing she wouldn't be going back to sleep any time soon. Dressing quickly and quietly to avoid waking her tent partner, Cordelia-who was some how sleeping through the noise that Lissa was making in her grief-the brunette left her tent.

Initially, the knight simply walked around, checking on other tents to make sure they were secure from the strong winds and rain storms that were still attacking the area. Then she found herself drawn to the quiet, sheltered spot behind the mess tent where her champagne was fermenting in its bowl, wanting to check to see if it was ready.

She hadn't been expecting to see a certain swordsman dressed in drying down-wear sat next to her fermenting flower wine.

"Lon'qu?" Sumia approached him carefully remembering how odd he's been acting earlier. The black-haired man turned his head to the side slightly to see her standing behind him and blushed, turning back almost quick enough for her not to notice. "Are you... All right?"

"Sorry for my actions earlier," said he with his back still to her. "They were unbecoming of me."

"I understand." She said in reply, moving to sit on the other side of her bowl, trying to meet his eye. "You were in a state shock over Lady Emmeryn's sacrifice. It's honestly more uncommon for everyone else to have acted so heartlessly over it than it is for you to have been effected by it."

"It's not so much grief at the Exalt's passing as it's... Vexation at having failed to protect yet another female..." Lon'qu's reply was barely a whisper and if Sumia hadn't been leaning in to lift up the muslin covering her bowl she wouldn't have heard him.

"Oh! Of course!" Muttered she, realising just what had been causing his paralysis in the earlier battle as she lifted the thin cloth. "It must have brought up some difficult memories."

"I don't wish to discuss them." He said in a flat, non-communicable way.

"O-Okay." The beverage inside the bowl was fizzing gently and smelt superb as Sumia reached for a small cup that she'd set next to it. It tasted as good as it looked and smelt causing her to smile gently as she offered another cup of it to Lon'qu, who was watching her closely from the other side, wanting to forget this line of conversation for a line less morbid. "Do you want to try some? It's probably the best batch I've ever made."

Squinting at her a little, he said: "Put the cup there-" he pointed at a flat spot beside him "-and I may try it." Smiling slyly, she did just that. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"Oh," standing up as she prepared to go inside and grab some of the bottles she'd cleaned out for the purpose of filling with her champagne, she chuckled. "I just find it funny that after all we've been through today, you still can't touch a woman unless you're in a life or death situation."

He glared at her as she folded the muslin cloth over her arm. "That tends to be the only time it really matters... I can't help but feel like your taking out you're own grief at her lady's passing by making jokes at my expense."

Sumia stopped in her tracks at that last sentence, looking down at the myrmidon with an odd expression-like she was looking inside herself for the answer. When her eyes refocused, they held a slightly steely glare, a look uncommon on the optimistic woman. "I need to bottle this before it goes flat."

And with yet another simple, unrelated sentence, she went inside, leaving Lon'qu alone with a cup of elderflower champagne by his side. "Ke'ri..." Slowly, he picked up a cup of what had been his lost friend's and his favourite drink-drinking laws were very lax in Chon'sin-and stared at the fizzing liquid. Since her loss, he hadn't drank it; hadn't wanted to, due to all the memories he associated with it. But, maybe today would be a good day to try it again, to mark the day that he hadn't been strong enough to save yet another woman from a horrible end.

To mark the day that he had touched a woman voluntarily for a prolonged period of time.

He lifted the cup to his lips... And heard an almighty crash as the klutz fell over inside the tent, breaking several bottles, by the sound of it.

The swordsman was on his feet, dropping the cup and rushing in, before he had even realised what he was doing.


	3. Affection

_Thanks once again for the kind reviews and the new faves and follows! I'm glad to know people are enjoying this as much as they are; I was really expecting it to tank since it's not a possible pairing in the game!_

 _This one takes place during Chapter 12 and acts as the A support in this story with some moments of affection, particularly towards the end, to try and bridge the often huge gap (in my opinion) between A and S supports._

 _As always, I hope you enjoy and let me know what you think by reviewing!_

* * *

A Swordsman and a Klutz

3\. Affection

The lantern set inside the mess tent had been knocked over in the crash, extinguishing it's light and plunging the tent into darkness. Rushing in moments later with the candle that had been sat next to him outside, Lon'qu gasped audibly as he illuminated the scene of the klutz's latest fall.

Boxes had been upturned all the way to the tent doors as though they had been knocked over like dominoes; a box of expensive looking bottles lay open in the middle of the floor, it's content cracked and broken into fragments carpeting the grass beneath his feet. And Sumia lay in the middle of it all, on her stomach, after tripping over a stray pebble and then her box. Small amounts of blood were pooling slowly at her sides, showing the swordsman that she had fallen onto the broken glass.

Panicking, he shouted for help and rushed carefully in, trying not to stand on too many shards as he made his way to the unconscious woman in the centre of it all. Falling to his knees by her side, Lon'qu pushed the glass away as he gently turned her over to inspect the damage, grimacing less as he touched her for the second time that day. Several large shards were embedded in her torso and thighs but the rest of her seemed unharmed, sans a few scrapes from the smaller pieces. But, as his panic began to decrease, he noticed something that set it back off again in full force.

Sumia wasn't breathing.

Shaking and barely hearing the calls of people outside who had been attracted to the scene after hearing his pleas for help, the swordsman whispered the klutz's name, reaching out a hand to check for the pulse at the base of her neck. A choked sob of relief rattled through his being as he felt a small flicker of life, a blush rising immediately after as he realised he had touched the woman before him yet again, this time without flinching at all.

Then Frederick, Lissa and the group on guard for the hour were there, taking in the situation at a glance. Just as Lissa was about to break down into her intense caterwauling that had only recently let up, Lon'qu reassured her that Sumia was still alive, just unconscious. The knight made his way into the tent, berating himself for failing to remove the pebbles from this area, and picked up the unconscious woman, telling the other man that he would take her straight to the med tent where Lissa had already run off to.

Lon'qu sat on his knees as he heard the commotion of other Shepards waking and running to see just what had happened while they slumbered. However, the myrmidon stayed put, shaking silently in his spot as he realised that he had almost lost yet another woman in his life. With a shuddering sigh, he rose slowly, noticing a small tag under the muslin cloth that had been used to cover the fermenting champagne. Picking up both the cloth and the tag, his knees almost buckled again as he read the note's short prose:

" _Dearest Sumia,_

" _Keep fighting the good fight (and come home safe!) and use these to bottle some champagne when the elderflowers come into season again. Maybe you could use it to celebrate when you win!_

" _Always thinking of you,_

" _Mother."_

* * *

Robin made the brilliant tactical decision to exclude Sumia from their fight against the mad king later that day since she was still undergoing treatment and in no shape to battle. The young woman finally woke up a few hours after falling and had been informed by Chrom that most of them would be leaving shortly, and that she wouldn't be coming with them. When she asked if anyone else would be staying behind with her (pushing away his attempts to hug and console her), he told her only Lon'qu. And when she asked where he was, the young prince shuffled his feet awkwardly and told her that no one had seen him since they'd found her.

This was because Lon'qu had taken her pegasus from it's makeshift stable and flown off in the direction of the Ylisse, hoping to make it to Sumia's mother's and back before nightfall. Not even he knew why he was doing something of this magnitude for a woman who had meant literally nothing to him a few weeks earlier. But when Maribelle saw him as he emerged from the mess tent and told him that he couldn't come with them to take on Gangrel because he wouldn't have a partner, the swordsman shook off her attempts to touch his arm to console him and instead walked about aimlessly for all of a minute until he found the stable, saddled up and took off without a second thought.

A few weeks ago, they would have let themselves be consoled by the prince and healer, he probably would have even let her touch him without flinching or sweating, but now they felt nothing-for the pair or anyone else-as they left their former (possible) flames behind.

* * *

Upon arrival in Ylisse, Lon'qu had been immediately directed to Sumia's mother's without any hesitation. He really hadn't expected the sweet elderly woman who was the knight's mother to have laughed at her daughter's clumsiness and offer him a preprepared replacement stash and new note without so much as a question to his identity.

Sumia really hadn't expected to see him sat by her bedside when she woke from her nap late that afternoon after everyone else had gone.

"Oh!" Her exclamation made him start slightly, as though he had yet to notice that she'd woken up. Pushing herself into a sitting position, she stared in awe at the myrmidon sat by her side, shocked to find him there with her. "Hel-Hello."

"Sumia." He inclined his head as a form of hello. "How are you?"

"Um, okay! I think..." said she nervously, twisting a bandaged away from view. "Most of the cuts were small and Lissa's staff healed most of them. I did open my arrow wound again though..."

"My apologies."

"Why? You didn't do anything, it was all my own clumsy fault." _Although I did take that arrow for you._

"I..." started Lon'qu slowly, getting up to pace the room. "I thought that you were angry with my accusation and that had made you lose focus and fall."

"I fall all the time, Lon'qu. It's really not your fault." She reassured him, but when he gave her a confused look from opposite her bed, she felt she'd failed.

"True, I have seen you fall often before, but since Robin partnered us together, I haven't seen you once do anything more than trip and regain your balance a few seconds later. I can't even recall a time when you fell like that in my presence."

"What do you mean? I fell like that... It was when..." Sumia racked her brains for a few moments as she thought over what the myrmidon had said. It turned out she really couldn't remember the last time she fell over in his presence either. "Huh."

"Hence, my apologies." Said he formally as she looked up at him in shock.

"I guess, I must have been thinking about Lady Emmeryn," her fingers tapped out an even beat on her chin as she thought. "Her sacrifice was a great tragedy after all, something that really shouldn't have happened." Tears threatened to fall, but the knight exercised heroic self-control to hold them back.

"Indeed." Lon'qu muttered quietly as he inspected several vulnaries by the wall.

"Why are you speaking so formally today? It's making me worry." Sumia looked over at him curiously.

"This was under the box of bottles." The swordsman held her tag by the tips of his fingers for her to take, not wanting contact with her again, not knowing how to answer her question. The knight took it with that sly smile she'd had on her lips yesterday plastered on her face again.

"Horse plop," she mumbled as the short note was read again. "Mother's going to be so angry that I broke her bottles."

"Can you walk?" His sudden question came out of nowhere and made her blink in surprise.

"I think so," Sumia swung her legs around the end of the cot and attempted to stand slowly, clicking her sore joints as she went. Across the room, Lon'qu watched carefully, his attention fully on her for the first time since she'd woken up. After several slow moments, the knight stood on her feet solidly and took a slow step, hands out in front of her in case she fell over again. The myrmidon extended his own arms involuntarily, moving his position to the end of her cot, ready to sprint to her aid should she need it. A smile lit up her face as she turned to triumphantly face the man behind her; the happy and optimistic pegasus knight was back. "Where are we going?" Asked she, still beaming.

"Follow me." Said the ever blunt swordsman simply-an almost smile in his voice as he walked out the tent quickly, stopping to be chivalrous by holding hold the flap open for her. Together, the pair walked across the abandoned camp, straining their ears to hear any sound of the fight taking place in the distance. The only sounds that reached them were the calls of birds as they flew back to their nests as the evening set in, calling at the sun one last time as it made its final journey of the day across the sky. The atmosphere over the camp was strangely tranquil, the kind of natural quiet that wasn't generally associated with a camp of soldiers, and it almost made what Sumia saw behind the cleared mess tent surprise her even more.

In the cleared space where her bowl of elderflowers had been fermenting stood a large box filled with bottles of her champagne, the bowl having been cleaned up and put away. A small slip of paper and a large daisy were slotted in between two of the bottles and it only took a glance for the knight to recognise her mother's flowery script on the outside of the paper.

"I read the note left in the tent and borrowed your pegasus, I hope you don't mind too much." Lon'qu said quietly behind her, the normal edge in his voice lost a little as he watched her walk slowly over to the box.

With the new note open in one hand and the other hiding a gasp at her mouth, the knight shook gently as her self-control was lost and the tears that had been threatening to fall since the sacrifice yesterday finally flowed down her cheeks.

"Sumia?!" The swordsman called her name in shock as he saw the tears on her smiling face when she turned to look at him.

"Lon'qu..." The klutz said his name in barely a whisper, putting the note back in the box behind her but keeping the daisy behind her ear. Wiping her tears away quickly, the woman laughed and held out a hand to the man before her who looked at it-and her-in confusion. "Thank you."

"Er," declining to shake her hand by shaking his head instead, a blush started rising slowly on his cheeks; he never had dealt well with compliments or expressions of gratitude. "It was nothing..."

Chuckling gently, Sumia started to say how it was clearly not _'nothing'_ and that he had flown all that way and back in a few hours just to replace a box of bottles, when a large beetle crawled out from under said box, scaring her into screaming and almost falling over backwards. Watching her reaction and recovery with a small smile, it was then Lon'qu's turn to chuckle as he reached down to pick up the bug.

"Afraid of beetles?" He held the significantly-smaller-than-she-originally-thought beetle up for her to see. Without thinking, she turned away, holding her arms protectively at her chest. "He's cute, like a miniature swordsman with twin blades. Look." Slowly and reluctantly, she turned to look at the bug in his hand. It had two long, pointed horns on it's head and a black body that looked like a metallic rainbow as it caught the fading evening light. It was not as terrifying as she had originally thought, though she wouldn't have gone as far as to call it _'cute'_.

"You... You like bugs?" The myrmidon confirmed this as he started stroking the beetle's body with his thumb. "What's your opinion on ladybugs?"

"Very funny." He half smiled as he set the beetle back down and watched it scuttle back off, watching as Sumia flinched slightly when it turned to come back in their direction. "Do you not like any insects?"

"Well... Butterflies and dragonflies are quite cute, and I don't mind moths or fireflies, but no, I wouldn't say I like many bugs."

"What a sad thing." Lon'qu muttered, turning away to watch as the sun made it's final descent for the day. Out the corner of her eye, the knight watched as his well-sculpted face softened as the last rays of light hit it, making him look like a totally new person who looked easily approachable. Words formed on the tip of her tongue as she stared; words that she knew she'd regret, but couldn't hold back. Thankfully, those words were saved from seeing the last light of day as the sound of the Shepards returning crushed the tranquil atmosphere.

Both of them sighed audibly as they made their way out of their moment to meet the group by the camp's entrance.

* * *

The pair were bombarded with stories of how the battle ended and of how Emmeryn had been avenged as soon as they were within shouting distance. As soon as they were in talking distance, they were told a much less violent story: the story of how Chrom and Maribelle became engaged after the battle ended.

Lon'qu zoned out as soon as the announcement had been made, half shocked at the fact that the woman who had almost broken him of his fear was now engaged to another man-half vexed at having been forced out of a quiet moment with his new partner for the sake of hearing such an unromantic love story. Looking up briefly as the story continued to be embellished, he saw the smug look Robin directed at Sumia, who was refusing to look at anything but her hands and the daisy that was getting plucked within.

 _Something_ welled up inside the swordsman as he looked at the young woman he was beginning to see as a partner; it's opposite also took up root in his being, but was felt for the tactician who had carefully manipulated the affections of his soldiers to create better relationships between people he liked as couples. The young man wondered if Robin had been trying to do the same with him and his partner, wondered if that _something_ he felt was what he thought it was...

* * *

Petals fell slowly from Sumia's shaking hands as her mother's daisy was plucked clean. In her note, her mother had told her to perform a fortune with the flower when she found herself wondering about her affections. Like a coin toss, flower fortunes had a tendency to tell you what you were really feeling if the out come was not what you subconsciously wanted. As the petals fell from her hands, she meet the eyes of her raven-haired partner and wondered if her mother had been right about his affections in her letter:

" _Dearest Sumia,_

" _A young man came to ask for more bottles for your champagne whilst riding your pegasus this morning. He claimed that you made too much for the bottles that I already sent. It was nice of him to lie on your clumsy behalf. Are you unharmed? Is this nice man my future son? He seems to care an awful lot for you to make up such an obvious lie._

" _If you're unsure of how you feel towards him, use this daisy to do one of your fortunes. They always help tell you the truth when your heart won't._

" _With love, as always,_

" _Mother."_


	4. An Extraordinary Night

_This is it, the last chapter!_

 _Thank you, yet again, to everyone who has read, reviewed and enjoyed this piece of fanfiction, I'm so glad it's been so well received!_

 _This chapter starts a little faster paced than the others and features Robin as a manipulative tactician who orders the pairing of his soldiers simply to form couples that he likes and can control at will (as I'm sure many of us do when playing the game). So, he seems very confused about the affection between Lon'qu and Sumia since it's something that shouldn't be possible in his mind. The only reason I've written him this way is because I think it's a side of Robin that many people don't consider as a possibility-much like this pairing-and I think it could provide some interesting development options should I decide to write a sequel for Cynthia over the summer (which I am currently considering doing if I have enough free time to do it justice)._

 _But, I hope you enjoy this final chapter and the S support that never was..._

 _...And forgive me for stealing the opening line from Zelda's Breath of the Wild trailer._

* * *

A Swordsman and a Klutz

4\. An Extraordinary Night

" _Open your eyes." A little voice in the back of their minds whispered as their feelings towards one another became clear._

 _They did._

 _And the world opened out before them, full of endless possibilities, requited adoration and sweet smiles on their paramours faces._

* * *

After the initial shock of the engagement announcement had worn off, Sumia suggested they celebrate with some of her champagne. Everyone was very up for it and many started to prepare a buffet table for them all to eat at while others went off to change into comfortable down-wear for the festivities. As everyone began to disperse, Sumia turned to talk to her partner, who was still stood in his spot, to ask him if he was doing okay and if he would help her carry her bottles to the table. However, she was blocked by their tactician, who stood before her with an odd smile on his face.

"Oh!" Exclaimed she in shock, jumping ever so slightly. "Robin! How are you?"

"I'm pretty good, thank you," he continued to smile as she looked over his shoulder at Lon'qu's retreating back. "And how are you?"

"Um, fine, I guess." She answered, still looking over his shoulder.

The tactician glanced backwards and widened his grin as he turned back and leaned in to whisper in her ear: "He'll never fall for someone like you. It's a complete impossibility, something that was never on the cards."

Normally, the young knight would have cried at the usually friendly head of the army acting so mean, but watching as he'd heartlessly broken up two potential couples for the sake of forming one more to his liking, she simply smiled back, watching as her partner rounded the corner and gave her one last, hopeful view. "Perhaps you should restack the deck."

It was then Robin's turn to watch someone leave him as the former klutz walked away from him in search of her bottles of champagne. As she picked up the box, she could have sworn a bottle was missing since the others rattled loosely as she walked.

* * *

Lon'qu watched as Robin moved to go and pester Sumia about how everything had turned out from his spot but a few feet away. A few weeks ago, he wouldn't have cared about what the tactician said to her; a few days ago he would have worried about how the knight would hold her own against him. Tonight, he simply smiled at her from over a purple robed shoulder, knowing she could handle anything the world decided to throw in her path-be that a pebble or an insane tactician.

The formerly unwieldy swordsman smiled gently as he headed in the direction of the mess tent to grab a bottle of her champagne for their own, personally use.

Because that night, everything would change.

When he'd flown back into the camp earlier that afternoon, he'd noticed a small glade just a short distance from their tents and made a note of it's location should he decide to heed the elderly woman's advice. The knight's mother had told him that it was time for him to follow his emotions for once, to get over his fear once and for all.

She'd given him a family heirloom, and he'd blushed furiously as she called him son.

Mulling it over all day, Lon'qu finally reached a decision: he wasn't going to let that tactician take her away from him.

"Lon'qu!" The purple robed man called after the myrmidon as he made his way to his tent.

"What do you want?" The dark haired man stored the bottle quickly inside his tent, away from the white haired man's prying eyes.

"I'm sorry about Maribelle marrying Chrom, I knew you were quite taken with her."

"I _was._ " The swordsman emphasised the past tense of the word as best he could.

"If I hadn't reordered the partners, do you think...?"

"There's no point pondering what could have been. You changed your tactics; I changed my mind." Lon'qu lifted his tent flap to signal to the other man that he wanted to be left alone. The other man was sweating bullets, rooted to the spot.

"Sumia can't love you like you want her to, it's just not possible!"

"Nothing is impossible, tactician. Maybe you should stop meddling and start letting us live like humans, not just units for you to manipulate as you see fit."

And his tent door closed, leaving Robin alone outside with his words, to really think about their meaning.

* * *

The festivities were in full swing when Lon'qu finally arrived late in the night. Sumia was sat at the buffet table, conversing animatedly with Sully and Stahl when he came to steal her away. There was a small frown at her brow and she was frequently looking behind the pair at the tents as though she was looking for someone when the swordsman finally arrived. The cavaliers opposite her almost gave his position away as he snuck up on the unsuspecting knight.

"Sumia." He whispered her name next to her ear, causing her to jump so high out of her seat that it almost knocked over. The opposite pair laughed loudly as she turned to face the myrmidon behind her with a bright blush. "Care to accompany me to somewhere less crowded?"

"S-Sure!" Stuttered she nervously as she got up, smoothing down her short dress and mumbling an apology to the cavaliers.

"We won't wait up." Sully winked, her glass raised, as the two walked away.

* * *

When they reached the mess tent, Lon'qu turned to face the brunette and hold her sliver gaze with his own deep-brown. "Close your eyes."

"Heehee," she chuckled and closed her eyes. "And how will I know where I'm going and how not to trip?" A weight was felt on her wrist and her eyes flew back open to see his hand there, his thumb resting on her pulse that was going faster than an arrow from a bow. Looking up at him, she could see a deep blush covering his cheeks but no sweat nor gritted teeth as he held onto her for the first time outside of a life or death situation.

"Close your eyes, and... Trust me." Sumia smiled sweetly and obeyed, letting herself be lead along a twisting forest path away from everything that had and would happen within their camp that night.

The further they went, the quieter the camp sounds got, until, finally, they disappeared completely, replaced with the sounds of the night wildlife chirping in the long grass and tall trees. A sweet smelling breeze wafted in from a nearby lake, bringing with it the smell of fresh rain and newly budding flowers. The knight was still smiling as she was lead deep into an unimaginable world outside of the camp, where everything could be new and exciting.

It was almost like a scene from one of her fantasy novels!

With her eyes closed and only the sounds and smells of the wood to give her any sort of idea where she was, Sumia felt simultaneously excited and afraid, beginning to worry irrationally that Lon'qu might be taking her away from everyone else to kill her. Just as she began to panic and pull herself free of his grasp to run-closed eyed-away from him, he spoke.

"Open your eyes." She did.

And colour burst into her world with a renewed vitality.

With only the dim light that came with midnight to illuminate the scene before her, it took a few moments before anything more than a range of muted tones formed before her eyes. When it did, she gasped.

Before her-in a cleared, emerald glade-sat a small crate between two tree stumps that had obviously recently been cut. Atop the crate was her muslin cloth and a bottle of her champagne with two fluted glasses, a pearly daisy plucked into the singular bottle that withstood her fall the night before. Fluttering near the lake that was just visible behind the trees and a cloud of low lying fog, were several fireflies, their bodies eerily glowing as they bobbed up and down, in and out of the obscuring fog, looking like little soldiers with tiny torches. A pair of moths were flittering next to the lantern set beside the makeshift table, their wings large and strangely bright in the little light.

Everything had an orange tinge to it, be it from the fireflies or the lantern, changing the obviously beautiful landscape into something more fantastical and unimaginable, almost extraordinary in its beauty. If Sumia had been a painter, she would have been tempted to try and capture the splendour of the landscape, but she was sure not even Libra would have been able to do the sight justice.

Lost in the sight in front of her, it took her several moments to realise that Lon'qu had let go of her wrist and was standing by her side with his arms crossed. With a small exclamation, she turned to look up at him, unsurprised to find his eyes looking directly into her own yet again.

"You did all of this... For me?" The knight asked quietly, walking over to lay a hand on the crate-table.

"Yes." The myrmidon answered simply, moving to grab the bottle of her champagne with a slightly shaking hand.

"Are you okay?" Asked Sumia, noting the shake of his hand.

"Yes." Answered he simply again, staring at his hand and putting the bottle back down. With a sigh, he raised his hand to his face, covering his eyes as it continued to shake.

"Are you sure?" She once again asked, a little playfully this time.

"Yes." He once again answered simply, the usual edge in his voice back again. "It's simply that," he looked down at the bottle on the cloth and sighed. "Ke'ri and I used to drink this all the time back in Chon'sin. As much as I wish to move on from my past, it still feels like I would be betraying her to drink it with someone else."

"We all have feelings from our past that are impossible to forget," the knight said, taking a seat on one of the stumps and pulling out the daisy from its bottle. "Maybe a flower fortune would help you feel ready to move on."

"How...?"

"Here," she started plucking petals from the plant, chanting 'move on' and 'don't move on' alternately as the petals fell to the floor. Finally, the last petal was plucked and the fortune was spoken. "Don't move on. Flower fate has spoken, will you agree with it, or go against it?"

Lon'qu looked down at the petals on the floor, glowing a pale orange like most of the glade. Slowly, and with great purpose, the swordsman reached for the bottle again, removing the lid with care and pouring the fizzing liquid into both glasses. Holding one out for Sumia, he didn't even flinch as she took it, grazing her fingers against his. A blush rose clearly on his cheeks, a smile on his lips, as he held the glass aloft.

"To moving on." Their glasses clinked and the pair settled down on opposite stumps, falling into a natural conversation as they discussed the engagement of their friends, not what could have been. That sad smile that people often had as they thought of dead loved ones formed briefly on the swordsman's face the moment before he took his first sip, but was lost in favour of a small grin as soon as the glass was removed, happy memories replacing that final sad one, new memories being forged, strong enough that not even death would be able to break them.

Clearing his throat as a silence descended on them, the myrmidon approached the question he had brought the knight out to ask. "Sumia," she raised an eyebrow as he said her name. "When I saw you unconscious yesterday, I panicked, thinking I had lost yet another important woman in my life."

"I'm sorry to have worried you, I'll try to tone down my tripping from now on." The klutz smiled playfully as he paused.

"I realised on my way back from your mother's this morning that the reason I panicked so badly was simple." With a tightening of his hand around the stem of his glass, Lon'qu looked up at the woman opposite him from under his lashes, his dark eyes reflecting the glow from the lantern, making them look like they were burning with desire. "I... I love you. And, your mother gave me this." He pulled out a ring from his pocket, a silver circle that reflected the light in much the same way as his eyes, a pattern of petals engraved in its surface.

The most interesting thing about the ring was that Sumia recognised it as her mother's. The young woman gasped as the dark haired man fell to one knee beside her.

"I would love nothing more than to be by your side to catch you when you inevitably fall, to be in love with and protect you until the end of our days, should you consent to be mine."

"Lon'qu..." With a slight skip, the knight flew from her seat and into his arms, only to remember that he didn't like contact a moment later. As she tried to pull back away, she felt his arms wrap tighter around her waist, pulling her closer. With a smile, she whispered next to his ear, "I've fallen completely in love with you too-in a way that I don't mind falling. I love you and consent to be your wife, so long as you promise never to leave me alone in this world."

"I promise."

They pulled apart as he gently pushed the ring onto her finger, listening as she told him that this ring had been in her family for generations.

In the distance, the camp toasted their future Exalt and his wife; there, the two sat on the dew-damp floor, toasting their own love as the swordsman got over his fear for good and the klutz found someone who would always catch her when she fell. The crickets chirped in the grass and an owl cooed a low song in the trees as though this night was any other, not one of great importance or extraordinary events.


End file.
